Welcome to the Worldwide Greathead family my One-Name Study

The information in this website covers all occurrences of the surname GREATHEAD worldwide, as opposed to a particular pedigree. It also contains the variants GREATHED, GREATED, GRATEHEAD, GREATHEED and GREETHEAD. One day maybe I will discover that we are all related

Henry (Francis)Greathead was baptised on 27 January 1757 Henry and his brother John were baptised together.1 He was the son of JohnGreathead and MaryRainsden. He married CatherineWood, daughter of JohnWood, on 25 March 1786 in St Hilda, South Shields, Durham, England.1,2,4 Henry built the first purpose-built lifeboat in 1789. By 1800 he had made thirty more and did much to propagate lifeboat use.1 In the Hull Packet of 11 September 1804 it is reported that Henry received from the King of Prussia a very elegant gold chain and medal, accompanied with a letter from that Monarch stating his high sense of value of his invention of the lifeboat. A lifeboat was sent some time ago by Mr Greathead to Swinemunde by order of the King of Prussia.5 His wife Catherine died on 1814 in Limehouse, London, England.1,6 Henry died in 1818 in Stepney, London, England.7 Henry was buried on 21 November 1818 in St Anne's, Limehouse, London, England, Henry is simply ‘Henry Greathead’ in the parish registers recording his marriage and baptisms of his children, in the contemporary publications detailing his life and/or lifeboat and in Parliamentary papers relating to grants of money in recognition of the invention. However the second name, Francis only appears in the burial register of St Anne’s, Limehouse. From the date of the burial, the fact that his wife Catherine was buried there and the association of both Henry (senior) and Henry (junior) with the area it must be the right burial, but why the addition of the name Francis?1,8,7

William Greathead Lewis

#4361, b. about 1790, d. 6 November 1842

Last Edited=25 Feb 2015

William GreatheadLewis was born about 1790.1 He married Mary Ann...2 Thomas Wooler was the Editor of "The Black Dwarf", a London weekly pubication at 2 Sura Street, Bishopsgate. He also wrote in Wooler's British Gazette. George Edmonds was an inhabitant of Birmingham and Proprietor and Publisher of the weekly paper entitled Edmonds Weekly Recorder. A paper notorious of its Revolutionary principles. Charles Maddocks was a Pawnbroker of Birmingham. William Greathead Lewis was a schoolmaster at Coventry of the lowest description and later became the Propietor and Editor of the inflammatory weekly publication entitled "Lewis's Coventry Recorder" for which he was under Prosecution by information supplied to the Attorney General.

There was a meeting on New Hall Hill in Birmingham on Monday 12 July 1819. Cartwright, Edmonds and Lewis rode to the meeting in a carriage drawn by two horses preceeded by two flags on which was inscribed Major Cartwrights the Bil of Rights and on the reverse The Soverienty of the People. The other flag was inscribed Sir Charles Wolseley and no Corn Law and on the reverse Thomas Jonathan Wooler and the liberty of the Prefs.

A warrent from the Sherriff of Warwick summoned them to appear on Saturday 29 July 1820.3 At the Warwickshire Spring Assizes on 3 August 1820 William appeared with George Edmonds, Charles Maddocks, Major John Cartwright and Thomas Jonathan Wooler. William Greathead Lewis, the late proprietor of the Coventry Recorder, was taken into custody by the principal tipstaff of the Court of King's Bench, in consequence of another criminal information filed against him by his Majesty's Attorey General. He was at the house of Major Cartwright, in company with Mr Wooler, at the time the officer arrested him. Mr Lewis was accompanied by Major Cartwright and Mr Wooler to the house of Chief Justice Abbot, and tendered themselves as his bail, which being accepted, Mr Lewis was set at liberty. Wooler and Lewis defended themselves against the charges of unlawfully and maliciously devising and intending to encite discontent and disaffection in the minds of 20,000 leige subjects of the King and unlawfully causing a change in the Commons House of Parliament.4,3 William died on 6 November 1842 in 30 Guildford Place, Clerkenwell, London, England.5

Sources of Information

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